Interview with Chris Noonan

The 'Potter' Spot

Time has a way of making certain movies disappear, while others remain
classics forever. Does anyone today remember Gordy, the other talking
pig movie that came out just a few months before Babe in 1995? Director
Chris Noonan, who received a Best Director Oscar nomination for Babe,
does.

"I knew the director of that film," says Noonan during a recent visit to
San Francisco, where he sat down for a chat with Cinematical. "I didn't
know he was planning a talking pig movie. He told me that he was very
interested in what I was doing, and he'd love to see a script. So I sent
him a script of Babe, just as a sort of colleague-friendly gesture, well
before we shot it. And then Gordy came out soon after. And I haven't
actually spoken to him since then."

The Australian-born Noonan, 54, has been a filmmaker since day one. He
won a prize at the Sidney Film Festival for a short film he made at age
16. He was one of the first to attend the Australian Film and Television
School, along with other future filmmakers like Gillian Armstrong and
Phillip Noyce. He began by making short films and documentaries, then
worked his way to television and TV movies. Babe was his theatrical
debut.

And now, eleven years later, Noonan has returned to the big screen with
the new Miss Potter, his first film since... Babe.